Hiring a Foreign Worker? No Problem. You Just Need to Know What to Expect

Hiring employees is no fun when you consider the costs (Social Security contributions, unemployment taxes, health insurance, 401(k) benefits) and the issues that might arise during the course of the employment relationship (potential liability for accidents occurring on the job, sexual discrimination claims, termination issues). Hiring a foreign worker can be even more difficult when you consider that one of the first steps in the hiring process is to ensure that the foreign national has an appropriate work visa. However, if you plan properly, the work authorization and on-boarding processes, even when hiring a foreign employee, can be as smooth as they will be for a U.S. worker.

Which Work Visa?

When hiring a foreign employee, the first step is for the employer to sponsor the worker for the appropriate work visa. There are myriad visas from which to choose, but, in the business setting, the options are often limited to three: The E, H and L visas. The E-1 (treaty trader) visa is for those coming to work for a company engaging in “substantial trade.” The E-2 (treaty investor) visa is for investors or their employees who are coming here to work based on a substantial investment that has been made in a U.S. enterprise. Both the E-1 and E-2 visas also require an appropriate treaty or trade agreement to be in place between the United States and the country of the foreign national’s citizenship, and the U.S. enterprise must be at least 50% owned by citizens of the foreign investor’s or employee’s nationality.